1. Technical Field
The embodiments herein generally relate to ammunition and explosives, and, more particularly, to sabots used when firing ammunition and explosives.
2. Description of the Related Art
In military ordnance arts, carriers for projectiles, known as sabots, have been used to facilitate the firing of a variety of ammunitions. Generally, a sabot is a carrier for a projectile that permits the firing of a variety of projectiles of a smaller caliber within a larger caliber weapon. Moreover, a sabot is used to provide structured support to a projectile within a gun tube under extremely high loads. Accordingly, without adequate support from a sabot, a projectile may break up into many pieces when fired.
Typically, a sabot fills the bore of the gun tube while encasing the projectile to permit uniform and smooth firing of the weapon. Preferably, the projectile is centrally located within the sabot that is generally radially symmetrical. After firing, the sabot and projectile clear the bore of the gun tube and the sabot is normally discarded some distance from the gun tube while the projectile continues toward the target. Typically, when the sabot reaches the end of the gun barrel, the force of hitting the air pulls the sabot away from the projectile, thereby allowing the projectile to continue in flight. While several types of sabot designs are available, these designs may be overly cumbersome and may have high manufacturing costs associated with them. Moreover, typical sabots comprise three-piece configurations having smooth uniform surfaces.
Furthermore, when conventional smooth sabots (i.e., sabots with smooth surfaces and without means for holding the sabot pieces together) are used, they tend to slide back and forth in the gun barrel, which makes it difficult to line up the projectile and can create significant and unwanted pitch and yaw of the projectile. To ameliorate this situation, one could use a pusher behind the sabot. Typically, the pusher is constructed of steel and also impacts the target, which in target practice is undesirable. Furthermore, the pusher may interfere with the preferred trajectory of the projectile. Therefore, there remains a need for an improved sabot offering a low cost solution, which can be easily utilized in practice.